


WTNV Hogwarts AU - the one where Carlos is trans

by Warpcorps



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Asexuality, Cecil is Mostly Human, Cecil is kind of a dick about asexuality for a little bit, Coming Out, Grey-A, M/M, POV Alternating, Steve Feels, Trans Carlos, Trans Male Character, au nobody died, being outed, carlos's parents suck, steve is emotionally supportive, well except harry's parents but nobody's going to talk about harry potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warpcorps/pseuds/Warpcorps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>exactly what it says on the tin. i'm bad at titles. forgive me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Actually, I'm Carlos"

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a "prompt" floating around on tumblr that I can't find again.  
> Carlos - "Science!"  
> Cecil - "Magic!"

Cecil Gershwin-Palmer , newly-assigned Hufflepuff, was paying rapt attention to the sorting process so that he could write home to his parents with as much detail as possible.. Scores of fellow 11-year olds had already passed by, and scores more were left. When the deputy headmistress called out “Carla Rivera” though, he lost track. He was in a daze for the next half-hour simply because of the fact that he had instantly fallen in love.  
\-----  
When the stairs wouldn’t let him into the dormitory he had been assigned, Carlos knew why. In fact, he had kind of expected it. He talked to Professor Flitwick and it was fine. As he had expected, Ravenclaws knew better than to value body over mind. Now if only the other houses were so accepting. This new world was looking very good so far.  
Every potions class, Carlos had a new bench mate. Well, for a while he thought he did. After a few weeks he realized that there was no way that many people could give him the exact same devoted stare without ever having met him before. And of course they were all named Cecil, so that was a major clue. Granted, the kid was really quiet around him; no matter how many people Carlos saw talking to Cecil, he never actually had a conversation with him.  
Hell, Cecil called him “Carla” the first time they had a decent conversation together. Potions and DADA were the only classes where they were in proximity to each other, so of course the fact that Snape had decided this year’s batch of students was going to be the first he called by their last name (and last name only) and the Defense teacher’s approach to student identification was that of the memorization of an assigned seating chart and photographic memory. This was good because honestly Carlos was only about 90% certain that his name had been changed on the rosters.  
Luckily, Cecil only messed his name up once. That was so much better than his parents. The way he did it was strange, though.  
“H-h-hey Carla?” nervous, almost worshipful.  
“Actually, I’m Carlos,” and that was that.  
From then on, Cecil sort of followed Carlos around whenever he could, learning where the Ravenclaw common room was, sitting on the side of his table nearer the Carlos’s during meals (generally as close to Carlos as possible, especially on days when he sat on the side nearer the Hufflepuffs), sneakily hiding behind the shelves in the library. Carlos was not oblivious, oh no he was not. This behavior, while vaguely creepy when done by anyone else, was rather endearing when Cecil did it. Sadly, even at this young age, Carlos was aware chasers existed and he had to be sure, doubly so because his parents still wouldn’t allow him to even trim his hair for fear it would reinforce the “phase” he was going through and allow the “pagan scum” to fill his head with “even more lies,” which was rich, seeing as before he had his definite proof they were calling wizards just that and saying he should learn to use his gifts as wisely as possible. Hypocrites.  
Tumbling down the stairs again, a different set than the first day, as it always was. Carlos was getting used to this. The Slytherins and Gryffindors had finally gotten off his case after they found out the big fat secret during the second week of school via some gossip chain that he couldn’t be bothered to find out. Ravenclaws, though. Oh man was Carlos’s first impression of Ravenclaws ever wrong. You would think that the House that was known for being the most intellectually minded would be able to understand that sometimes your brain is stronger than your physical form. Or your physical form is misleading of your worth. Something meaning “It’s okay to be trans*.” But no. No it apparently isn’t. Not when you’re a muggle-born. Not when you were seen by not two but five cissies tumbling down the stairs trying to get to your assigned bed just so you could escape the emotional drain of the day. Not when there was a House meeting to talk about sudden lodging and accommodation reassignments. Not when your room mates (mates – HA!) get to see your birth name carved, embossed, and freaking GOLD LEAFED into your trunk at the foot of your bed. Not when they ransack your trunk to find pink panties, a teddy bear, and perfume. And really, who even gives an eleven-year-old perfume in the first place? That’s ridiculous. Anyway. Stairs. Tumbling. Again. Main corridors. No teachers around. Only a pack of the more athletic and/or exceptionally-skilled-at-spellwork Ravenclaws. Oh, and apparently one part-Veela, part-Boggart, part-really scary when he wants to be, 100% Cecil Gershwin-Palmer terrifying a pack of the more athletic and/or exceptionally-skilled-at-spellwork Ravenclaws. Carlos knew there was a reason he let him stay around. And apparently Cecil could control what images others projected onto him, because holy wow he didn’t even have to touch them and they started running away.  
Cecil had made sure to stay closer to Carlos from then on, something mutually agreed upon and left at that for the time being. Now Carlos sometimes sat at the Hufflepuff table with anyone who would have him. (Translation – all the Hufflepuffs. Wow they are nice.)  
\---  
Cecil hated Steve Carlsberg with a burning passion. Not only did he semi-regularly fail to use Perfect Carlos’s preferred pronouns (Cecil didn’t care how long he had known Carlos beforehand and that it was taking him a little while longer to adjust than it was for everyone else; even if Carlos said he didn’t mind slipping up sometimes it was still wrong. He didn’t care that they had grown up literally next door to each other. He didn’t care that they had been best friends until the day they got sorted. He didn’t care that they were still really good friends that now finally had more than one friend each and Gods but that’s a little bit tragic that Carlos only ever had Steve Carlsberg as a friend growing up. He didn’t care that they knew everything about each other and had inside jokes and laughed at things. He didn’t care that somehow both being raised by muggles had given them a sort of solidarity with each other that Cecil knew he could never be a part of. It really didn’t matter to him.), but he also consistently said Cecil’s name “Suh-seel” instead of “See-suhl” and that was just downright annoying.  
\---  
All things considered, Carlos was kind of relieved that Cecil didn’t care for Stevie. It proved he had a personality outside of “obsessed with Carlos.” And really, Cecil had no reason to like Steve. Of course, he also had no reason to like Carlos, but Carlos wasn’t going to think too hard about that one. Honestly, Carlos knew why Cecil didn’t approve of Steve. Steve and Carlos had discovered magic together at the age of three, they had romped about the neighborhood together from the time they could walk, they knew each other and Cecil was not very good at hiding his jealousy. Oh, and Steve may have slipped up about Carlos’s “new” name a few times in front of Cecil, but the thing was that he had only slipped up about it those four or five times, and apologized profusely afterward. Carlos appreciated the effort and moved on, because honestly what was he supposed to expect from someone he’d known since they were in diapers together? Honestly, Cecil just needed to chill out.  
Cecil’s crush was obvious enough that some of Carlos’s friends commented on it. Carlos was alright with Cecil. He was pretty nice. He just had bigger things to worry about than whatever passed for romance in 11-to-12 year old society.  
Gryffindor won the house cup; it was about the 12th year in a row now. Did this count as nepotism in this case? Obviously someone was playing favorites.no telling how many idiots who hit whatever scared them went ignored just so that McGonagall and Dumbledore could have their precious trophy. Not that all Gryffindors were bad, but just enough that the ‘claws called them the “lock your doors” relatively often behind their backs.They and the “shit man, runs” were gladly rivals, otherwise they would have the entire school under a reign of terror.


	2. Year 2 wherein there is an attempt made at romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update this more probably? I really like this 'verse so I might stick with it until after they're out of school.  
> Oh by the way I'm sorry for the wait and all that.

Well! It was good that hadn’t happened for the first time while he was at school. His mom had sat him down and explained they thought this was going to happen a full year later. Talk about a bloody hell. Damn September birthday. Made him hit this wall a full year earlier than most of the kids in his year. Jesus fuck on a pogo stick this was annoying. Never mind what he hatefully referred to as his “pecs.” He should have just sucked it up and put suction cups on his shoes or something so he could get up those damn stairs the first time. Really, if last year was bad then he didn’t even want to know.  
Carlos had tried his best over the summer to become more athletic. Really, he had. It was for his own safety and health, after all. He couldn’t neglect that. He just kept getting swept up in the theory of his exercises and the anatomy lessons he could learn that supported them rather than carrying them out. As it was, he had actually gained a bit of muscle despite his constant procrastination. If he kept up the progress he had been making towards his goals, he would probably be fit enough to try out for the quiddich team this year; if not this year there was always the next. He wanted to be a beater. The entire position was appealing to him. It seemed like ever since Cecil had rescued him he kept finding other, more accepting Ravens that he hadn’t noticed while constantly swarmed by the ones that had forced themselves into his life during the first few months of the school year. He was proud of his House again now, and wanted to show his worth in something.  
Carlos and Steve had hung out over the summer, and for some reason Carlos and Cecil had become pen pals. One time Cecil was being a brat about how much he needlessly hated Steve, so just to spite him Carlos made sure that every paragraph had at least one mention of Steve, even enlisting Steve’s help to sign off as “Keeping you in our thoughts, Steve & Carlos.” The fallout for that was surprisingly minimal.  
\---  
Cecil had enjoyed his summer, even having gotten that utterly ridiculous letter from Carlos. Okay, maybe he had been a bit of a jerk for a little bit. Honestly, Steve didn’t really irk Cecil that much any…..who was he kidding Steve was annoying, just for different reasons now. He got to have sleepovers with Carlos. They got to go to each other’s houses. Not only were they allowed to go to each other’s’ houses at home, but they were both in the same house! This was entirely preposterous. Carlos probably even let Steve play with his perfect hair. Maybe. Some people are sensitive about their hair. You never know. Maybe the reason Carlos’s hair was so perfect was because no one ever touched it.   
The fact of the matter was that Cecil may or may not have been a teensy bit jealous for the entire summer over whether Carlos and Steve maybe somehow started forming a relationship of the sort that generally was only apparent in the upper years. His supposed jealousy may or may not have been stoked by Carlos’s utterly ridiculous letter with a damned joint signature. Whatever. Carlos could do what he wanted. It didn’t bother Cecil if he didn’t want to do those things with him. Maybe Carlos was straight. Maybe he was ace. Or aromantic. Possibly both? Maybe he was a heteroromantic asexual. Maybe Cecil just wasn’t his type. Even though Cecil didn’t exactly identify with any specifically human gender, he knew that his preferred pronouns put off people who weren’t attracted to men sometimes. Typical. Maybe he should stop being so possessive. That, no matter how much praise it’s given in media, is actually a repulsive thing in a potential romantic partner.  
\---  
Carlos and Steve surprised Cecil by joining him in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Cecil and Steve almost immediately began fighting over some trite thing Carlos didn’t really care about. Carlos was mourning the loss of the internet for the next few months and already had a countdown set for the last day before he went home for break. When they asked him his opinion he let them know he hadn’t been paying any attention to their conversation and asked them if they could or could not see that he was reading. That was about the point when they both shut up.  
Later, Steve asked Cecil why he hated him so much. Cecil harrumphed and turned away. Carlos laughed.  
Carlos got a binder in the post three weeks into the school year. Steve showed proper approval. Cecil did not.  
Later, when Carlos was no longer sporting such an impressive protrusion from his pectorals, Cecil showed better approval, but his reaction of staring blatantly and saying “Magic!” was a bit uncalled for. Instead of getting on his case about it, as Carlos had every right to have done, he puffed up his chest as much as he could in his elastic cage and boasted “Science!” and that was the end of Cecil’s interest in Carlos’s physical transition for the year.  
Carlos, somewhat foolishly, tried out for the beater position. Not yet being used to wearing his binder during strenuous activity had about as much to do with him not making the cut as the fact that he was the smallest person to try out for that particular spot on the team. They offered him keeper, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do. He really just wanted to hit things and get cheered on for it. After the tryouts, Steve snuck Carlos into Honeydukes, which after the mass in-student spread of the infamous map was no longer such a feat as it had been in the past. They both got the most muggleish sweets they could find and returned to the school soon after.  
Cecil and Carlos had a sort of strained friendship. True, Cecil never messed up Carlos’s name, pronouns, or other signifiers, but Cecil was also about as respectful of Carlos’s personal space as his mother was. Carlos’s mother was of the sort to comment on your physical appearance by reaching out and fixing mistakes. Cecil had no reason to be forgiven for that, but by Christmas break he was getting better at it. They were still Potions partners, so it wasn’t like they had that much actual personal space most of the time, so it was easily enough forgiven. Especially when he also acted as Carlos’s bodyguard when needed, which made up for a lot of his flaws.  
When they got back from Christmas break, Cecil asked Carlos to go out with him. Or, well, that’s what Carlos figured he was doing. Carlos made it a point to bring up in the next group conversation they were in together how ridiculous he found the idea of dating under the age of 15 to be. That would put that conversation off for another 3 years, and hopefully by then Cecil would have better confidence than asking to study together and then showing up with magicked-extra-clean robes and gelled-smooth hair. Which, honestly, why would someone who was part Veela need to do that anyway? Weren’t they supposed to be the most attractive things on the planet even when they had rolled around in mud and let it dry instead of washing it off? Maybe it was because he wasn’t old enough for that part yet. But seriously, they were twelve. Why was Cecil even interested? They were twelve.  
One good thing about magic school? No science fair. At all. One bad thing? Any muggle education you want past age twelve you have to get on your own. Which is ridiculous. You would think they would at least teach math and English. Maybe update their curriculum once every few years. No. Not in the least. This is how Carlos found himself asking his parents to send him a homeschooling course so he wouldn’t be below his own educational standards by the end of the year. All his professors were very proud of him. He got kind of caught up in it, so by the time the rest of his family went home for spring break and inundated the post with letters about how much fun they were having at home and how much they missed him he had forgotten most of his friends in favor of doing his schoolwork and extracurricular work.  
Cecil didn’t mind. He would sometimes look over Carlos’s shoulder while he was doing his math and laugh about the funny sigils. Some of the older students asked how a second year was already taking arithmancy. Carlos nearly cried out of shock and shame in the education system. He didn’t have the heart to tell them that he was doing math most muggle 13 year olds already knew. Thus began his petition to have standard muggle education brought in to be taught at Hogwarts. Most of the muggleborn Ravenclaws agreed with him. Barely anyone else did. Some hufflepuffs signed just to be nice. Cecil had made sure of that.  
\--  
Steve, Cecil, and Carlos eventually got into a heated debate over the existence of mountains. Cecil was of the opinion that mountains were only a mass figment of imagination, because everyone knew they were just sleeping giants. Not giant landmasses – actual giants. Steve and Carlos obviously disagreed, since up until that moment neither had even considered that giants might be real. They asked their teachers in each class. Cecil was devastated to find out that only 50% of mountains, if that, were only giants, and that the rest were, in fact, mountains.   
The school year ended with Cecil sulking, Carlos having an existential crisis, Steve looking up ways to tell the difference between a mountain and a giant, and Gryffindor winning the house cup. Again. Seriously. What the hell.


	3. in which there is major word vomit on the part of the author

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wherein there is conflict of a sort

Carlos had no idea what was going on. He had just left his bedroom and yet another person was sliding down the stairs. Really. That just seemed like a major design flaw. Oh, right. First year orientation. Cheers. Maybe this would make them reconsider some things. Like the potentially deadly weapon that unleashed itself on 11 year olds that tried to stay in the closet for just a little longer. Or at least they would put the AMAB students on even footing? It’s probably for the best though, since nobody he knows has any idea how much stronger or weaker the prejudice against AMAB trans people is in the wizarding world, and the baseline in the muggle world doesn’t look so great. Yeah. The stairs can stay. Forever if they want. What was Carlos thinking? Self-delusion from his oft-forgotten privilege must have blinded him. But that’s no excuse. He let it. He now had a fresh resolve to especially double duty not out trans women. Ever. No matter what. That’s basically playing with fire, which even theoretically only 7th years are supposed to attempt. Actually, that’s worse than playing with literal fire. That’s playing with people’s lives. That’s a bad idea, full stop.  
So Carlos decided then and there that he was going to try and put a stop to this nonsense. He decided to petition for the spell on the stairs to be deactivated. That was the least he could do. Stop being complicit in the violent outing of half the school’s trans population.  
The all-call system at Hogwarts was a lot less complicated than that in muggle schools. Of course Professor McGonagall would have to make a speech at the beginning of the day, before breakfast. That way nobody could ignore her. Of course, this also meant everyone got super pissed off that breakfast was delayed. Whatever. The news that Carlos had started a petition got out. Madame Hooch approached him within 5 minutes of herbology. Of course she would love to help with that. Carlos was certainly not the only student concerned with this, and could he even imagine what it was like in her time? No, no he could not. He admitted as much.  
So, Madame Hooch was going to help out with convincing other teachers that it would be in the best interest of the students to remove “That antiquated and preposterous method of preventative discipline which didn’t work in the first place” and to (as of her suggestion) actually instate a mandatory series of health lectures that would cover things such as this. Professor Flitwick was also supportive, and to everyone’s surprise Professor Snape said he could possibly see the benefit of cutting down on the necessary discipline issues that arose from people finding out that some other students didn’t dress, act, and look like “normal people.” So, Carlos figured he had the staff’s support (however grudgingly) from enough fronts for it to matter.  
So preparations were underway for the next year of all the houses to not have the stairs suddenly collapse on students if they were going in the wrong dormitory. That was actually a big step. Too bad for the guy two weeks ago. Carlos should really try to make friends with him, if at all possible. Then again, what would they have to talk about? The suffering that came with having an estrogen system? The guy was too young for that. Proabaly. Carlos knew someone who encountered that surprise on her eighth birthday and that was quite possibly the worst sleepover anyone had ever been to.  
Anyway, Carlos’ binder was getting tighter every day. He had expected this, as he was large enough at 12 to need one in the first place. Someone had told him that Madame Pomfrey could do body modifications on the size of things. They had been talking about teeth, but he presumed it would be applicable in other areas. Maybe he could ask her if that was possible. Yeah, sure. That would go well. Body modification on a 13-year-old. He had the suspicion that muggles and wizards had the same ideas about that in general.  
\---  
Cecil was worried. Carlos had been more standoffish than usual, and that was saying something. It was the day before Halloween and they hadn’t spoken the whole year. Sure, over the summer they had written letters, but what could Carlos possibly be doing that kept him out of contact full stop since the first day of school?  
If it was any help, he also knew that Carlos wasn’t talking to Steve Carlsberg either. Small rewards. Baby steps. Count your blessings. That was his motto these days.  
And it wasn’t like he didn’t know that Carlos knew that he was in love with him. Really. He had royally messed up any chance of pretending otherwise after Christmas break last year.  
Whatever. It’s not like he actually needed Carlos in his life or anything. He would just go without. Even if the Halloween ball was the next night.  
Or alternatively, he could see Carlos at that very moment heading toward him in the dining hall, a reversal (hopefully) of the roles they had had during first year.  
\---  
It was done. Carlos had finally worked up the nerve to ask Madame Pomfrey about his idea on reduction spells three days after he came up with it. She had informed him that while it was possible, the spell was generally only used on smaller parts like teeth or noses or the like. Purely for small, cosmetic, superficial things.  
So they had set to work adjusting the spell because she was absolutely aghast that he would willingly constrict his ribs with so much pressure. She said that magic was much safer than crushing yourself into a different shape and that if this was common practice for people like him, well she would just not stand for it.  
So for the next few weeks Carlos spent his time scouring every charms, potions, and transfiguration textbook he could to find something to show to Madame Pomfrey and ask if it would help in their efforts to alter the charm.  
And that night they had hit on something amazing.  
He had to tell Cecil. And Steve. And that guy from the first week of school. And his parents. Hell, anyone who would listen had to know this.  
There was now a self-applicable spell to make yourself flat-chested. Permanently.  
He could cry.  
\---  
Cecil was excited for Carlos, but saddened that he had been left out of the process. He would probably have been able to help Carlos finish his research a lot faster if he could find a way to describe shifting as it applied to his appearance.  
Speaking of shifting appearance, Cecil was starting to worry about Carlos. Normally Cecil would appear to people as the generic of whatever they found appropriate for him to look like. In people his age, that meant he was always their “type”. Except Carlos. Carlos’ declaration last year of it being inappropriate to date before the age of fifteen was starting to gain context for him.Despite their lack of communication recently, he had still technically come into contact with him every day. As always, he was hyper aware of what people saw him as. He realized Carlos had never seen him in the same body twice, while others normally always saw the same thing every time. Somehow Carlos had always recognized him though. Well, after that entirely awkward conversation about why he thought he had a new benchmate every potions class. It was like Carlos didn’t have a type or something. Not even a little bit. His impressions of Cecil had always been a combination of the traits others in the room had given him. This was so confusing. Even if he only had a romantic orientation, he would still have some sort of orientation. How could someone live not wired for love? He shuddered at that.  
\---  
Ever since Halloween, Cecil had been treating Carlos strangely. Well. Stranger than usual. Whatever. He seemed edgy around him. At first it hadn’t bothered him because of the newfound thrill of no-binder-but-still-consistently-read-as-male blocking out all other emotions. That lasted about a month. Now it was near Christmas and Cecil, unlike his usual self, wouldn’t touch him. At all. Not even a hug. What was that about?  
\---  
Ahhh, spring. Everything is blooming. It’s the true season of love, no matter what February may have you think. All the animals are scurrying around. The flowers are blooming. And yet Carlos was the only one unaffected. Cecil was worried. Was Carlos truly so tainted as to not be attracted to anyone in any way, shape, or form? Cecil was afraid, both for himself and his friend. Former friend, if the way Carlos was acting was any indication.  
\---  
Carlos waited for Cecil to tell him what was wrong. And waited. And waited.  
And nothing.  
It had been months since Cecil acted like himself.  
Carlos wanted to hit something.  
Maybe this had something to do with the existential crisis he had at the end of last year. He was different. More different than he had thought. He didn’t get attracted to people. Well. Not so far. Not yet. He thought he almost was to Cecil for a bit. But then they had lost communication for a while and after that Cecil had shied away.  
But how could he know?  
And for a while Carlos had thought he was broken. That was until he, true to form as a Ravenclaw, had researched while at home over the summer. There were words for people like him. Nice, neutral words. Asexual. Aromantic. Gray-A. Ace. Demisexual. Demiromantic. Why he had to worry about these things at 13 years old he had no clue, but he was doing it all the same. Maybe his push (flip backwards and near-concussion) into expressing his gender had something to do with it. Maybe it was Cecil’s constant badgering for the first two school years that almost anyone else would have accepted. because as far as Carlos knew, Cecil was literally the most attractive person on the planet. And he just wasn’t feeling it.  
And he knew Cecil looked differently to everyone. He also knew he didn’t have his own special version of him. He kept trying to picture Cecil as someone good-looking, but nothing really stuck. So he had started thinking of him as an amalgamation of what other people said he looked like.  
That was slightly better, he guessed. He still looked different every time though.  
So yeah, maybe Cecil had something to do with that revelation.  
Maybe.  
He decided to talk to him.  
Strictly business.  
\---  
Cecil knew it. He had just. He knew it. This was. This was heartbreaking. It had been a month since he found out and this was just... appalling. How could someone be wronged in such a way?  
Born without the ability for true passion.  
Of course, Carlos seemed to be coping well. He didn’t even look upset. He had accepted it, the poor guy.  
He had said something about “gray” though. And “spectrum.” And “I acknowledge the possibility that later on in life I may experience attraction to someone, but feel that I would probably need an extremely strong bond of friendship and trust before such an event were to happen.”  
And Cecil had run.  
But at breakfast the next morning things were back to their old routine (Old, so very old. More than a year out of practice. He was surprised he could remember.) of Cecil visiting the Ravenclaw table. And it still felt right, somehow.  
\---  
Gryffindor won the house cup. Again. What do they even do?  
Was the reward system rigged?  
Carlos decided to ask Cecil these questions in their first letter of the summer.  
Since they were talking again.


	4. Year 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cecil and Carlos continue to go to Hogwarts and also Steve is a shitty straight guy but not towards Carlos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry i made you wait literal months like wow but uh here's over 1500 words have fun  
> also i'm trying to keep this as close to canon as possible so uh steve is getting flaws

Over the summer, Cecil and Carlos had become closer. Carlos started thinking of Cecil as less of a “strange person who used to have a crush on me” and more of a “strange yet really interesting person I should probably talk to more often.”  
He had asked Cecil about what it was like for him growing up around magic (“My parents used to live in a fairy village for a while, but they were kicked out when they found out Dad was not, in fact, a darkness elemental. They were okay with mom staying, but Dad had to go. So we all left for Bristol, where people don’t notice that sort of thing.”) and Cecil had, in turn, asked Carlos about his upbringing without magic (“We used to live in Monterrey when I was a baby, but mom’s company said to either move with the company or find a new job, so she quit. We came to Aberdeen so that she could research bridge structures in the countryside some weekends while still living in a city with her brand of tampons available. Or at least that’s what she tells me.”) That conversation had obviously brought up when Carlos had met Steve and how they had connected, which Carlos could barely remember since they were so small. Carlos had no idea where Cecil had gotten the idea he and Steve lived in houses when in all actuality they lived in flats across the hall from each other, but he wasn’t going to push it because Cecil was already so jealous of how close they were.   
\---  
Cecil had awaited every letter with bells on his toes. Literally. He had heard somewhere that that made the wait go by faster. Maybe it only sped things up if you were in close proximity with the person you were waiting on.  
In any case, his correspondence with Carlos had actually garnered him 5 letters over the entire summer. The ones he sent had all been long and thought out, which explained the gaps between the ones he received, since it took him about a week and a half to compose each of his. Carlos’ had been more like trains of thought; despite that they were equal in length, if not longer.  
And now they had arranged to meet up at platform nine and three quarters and sit in the same compartment. The only downside was that Carlos had insisted that Steve sit with them. Again.  
What if Carlos and Steve had developed that “special, strong bond of friendship” Carlos apparently needed to be attracted to someone? What if they were dating now? Would he have to congratulate them? For an entire hour, Carlos angsted over these and worse possibilities, the endgames snowballing into worse and worse scenarios. Logically, he knew that two thirteen year olds could not possibly have moved in together, gotten married, moved to a house out in the countryside with a picket fence, had three kids, and sent one off to college in a little bit more than two months, but that was the scene in his head when Carlos and Steve showed up in front of him and kicked him out of his internal panic.  
\---  
On the ride to school, Cecil seemed distracted. Carlos decided not to worry about it and just kept talking to Steve. Not that they had much to talk about, but the flow of conversation was comforting after spending another summer without his parents talking to him because of his easy acceptance of such a “deviant” lifestyle. It was like they didn’t care that magic was an essential part of who he was. Carlos’ letters to Cecil were one of his two only sources of comfort over the summer. Funny how that worked out with how he had been avoiding him for such a long time. Steve was the other. Steve didn’t take two weeks to reply to anything Carlos said. Steve wasn’t so formal and pinched in his wording that it sounded legitimately painful. But absence made the heart grow fonder. Apparently that was how it was going in Carlos’ head because he was craving Cecil’s attention and getting a little bit bored of Steve.  
When they got to Hogwarts, Carlos immediately checked with all the heads of houses if the stairs really were fixed over the summer so that there wouldn’t be any more first years that were forced to suddenly be forced into a position they weren’t ready for. They had been. Then came the opening feast, where that was explained and the students were asked if they could please inform incoming students from now on, but in the interest of privacy to not share why. The beginning of year speech was given by Professor McGonagall since the former headmaster had apparently retired to a remote beach and was undoubtedly surrounded by glistening cabana boys, which was an image Carlos hadn’t needed to think of, no matter how true it might be. Thank Merlin their headmaster had finally come out, as it had given some of the younger gay, pan, and bi students the confidence to admit that there was something different about them and that it wasn’t wrong. The other students that didn’t fit in the cookie cutter, well, the presentation given by Nymphadora Tonks last year had helped a little bit, if not enough for Carlos’s liking.  
The Triwizard Tournament, which would have happened this year if it were on schedule, was thankfully banned. Permanently. The Triwizard Cup was resting in the museum section of the Ministry of Magic in an impervious bubble, never to endanger students ever again.  
Thankfully, there was an alternative worked out. This year, students from each wizarding school in Europe would be allowed to visit one of the others. Steve was currently setting up a date with one of the pretty Beauxbatons girls. Even though he had a girlfriend. Carlos should probably tell the girls.  
\---  
On Christmas, Cecil decided to pay Carlos a visit. In his common room. So he took a full hour to figure out the riddle the door gave him (Q: How high does the Sycamore grow? A: If you cut it down then you’ll never know.) and then sat in one of the comfy chairs in front of the fireplace reading a book about nargle society. It was interesting.   
Carlos came down the stairs in pajamas. His pajamas consisted of an oversize t-shirt hanging off one shoulder and sweatpants. Cecil was not distracted. Not at all. Which was good, because he needed to pay attention when Carlos was talking to him. Very Important.  
Carlos asked Cecil to go to mass with him, since his family was Catholic and they would never forgive him if he ignored their religion. Cecil declined and waited in the Ravenclaw common room while Carlos went to one of the school chapels dressed to the nines.  
When Carlos got back, Cecil asked him to play wizard chess with him. Carlos happily admitted defeat on the first go, and since Cecil wouldn’t accept just once they ended up trying for best 51 out of 100. Cecil still won. It was nice.  
\---  
After the horrendous fiasco that was Steve’s love life come Christmas Eve and the following fallout, it was great to have a reliable source of drama-free companionship in Cecil, whose moral compass could easily adjust to circumstances and did not disregard the feelings of attractive women. Of course, Cecil was just generally nice to be around anyway.   
When Carlos admitted to himself that he had never felt like this before, he had genuinely never felt like this before. His bond with Cecil was becoming closer and stronger than with anyone else he had known, and just seeing him would brighten up his day. He didn’t know what to do, and was fairly sure that if he talked to someone they would chide him for being inexperienced in this.   
And so, St. Valentine’s day passed with Carlos paying slightly more attention to the love hearts all over the place than he had last year and Cecil bemoaning the fact that people were adjusting their perceptions of him to be wearing slightly more revealing necklines. Such was the struggle of a veela-boggart hybrid, apparently. At least nobody out-and-out groped either of them as far as Carlos knew.  
\---  
The end of year feast came too soon for anyone’s liking. All the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were leaving as soon as it was over, and Cecil had one final conversation with a seventh year Beauxbatons boy who was appropriately named Randy, who had apparently slept with all the legal members of all four quiddich teams, sometimes involving questionably legal acts if the rumors were true. The girl that Steve had made an impression on at the beginning of the year was making out with her girlfriend in some secluded corner Cecil had passed by on the way to the great hall. Cecil was currently warding off the attentions of a Durmstrang girl who just would not accept that he wasn’t interested. That sort of thing had stopped being flattering about two weeks after puberty started, especially when the person in question had as horrible taste as this girl did. (Honestly, she thought he looked like Professor Flitwick of all people, land sakes!)  
Carlos, beautifully intelligent and witty Carlos, was talking to one of the Durmstrang professors about a summer course he was being invited to take on transfiguration and metallurgy. Of course he was going to say yes. That was Carlos’s thing. He called it applied science with extra variables. Nerd.  
What Cecil didn’t understand was why Carlos had bought a top-of-the-line broomstick with the money his parents had sent him for various holidays instead of going to Hogsmeade (preferably with Cecil) and buying treats for himself. Did Carlos like sports? When did that happen?  
No matter what the answer to those questions, the image of Carlos on a broomstick would probably plague Cecil’s dreams until he could see it for real. He absolutely loved people wearing sports equipment. Of any sort.


End file.
